Posted on 08/07/2004 1:36:44 PM PDT by wagglebee
WASHINGTON – When 13 Democratic members of the U.S. Congress asked United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send election monitors to the U.S. this fall, the move outraged many Republicans and other proponents of national sovereignty.
When those same 13 Democratic members of Congress were turned down by Annan, they took their request to Secretary of State Colin Powell – again to the shock of many Republicans and those who warn about foreign entanglements.
Yesterday, those 13 Democratic House members got their surprising answer from the State Department – the administration will indeed invite foreign election monitors to observe the U.S. elections in November.
Assistant Secretary of State Paul V. Kelly, who handles legislative affairs for the department, affirmed the invitation this week in a letter to the 13 House members. They had requested U.N. monitors for this year's elections in an effort to avoid the charges of voting irregularities that plagued the 2000 election, the closest in history.
Now, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the largest regional organization in the world with 55 participating nations, will monitor the U.S. election on Nov. 2. Members include Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the United States.
"OSCE members, including the United States, agreed in 1990 in Copenhagen to allow fellow members to observe elections in one another's countries," Kelly wrote. "Consistent with this commitment, the United States has already invited the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to observe the November 2, 2004, presidential elections."
The congressional initiative was spearheaded by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas. She asked Powell to make an official request that the U.N. provide observers for the Nov. 2 elections in the United States to "ensure free and fair elections."
Previously, the 13 Democratic congressmen, led by Johnson, sent a letter July 8 to the U.N. general secretary requesting the presence of U.N. representatives in every county of the country during the voting process and any vote recount afterwards.
The U.N. immediately responded that such a request could not be accepted unless it came from the U.S. government. Otherwise, a spokesman said, it could be considered"intervention in a country's sovereignty."
"As legislators, we should guarantee the American people that our country will not experience another nightmare like the 2000 presidential elections," the members of Congress said in their letter to Annan.
In her letter to Powell, Johnson expressed grave concerns regarding electoral system reforms that were not undertaken after the 2000 election.
Recalling the contentious Florida vote count in 2000, the lawmakers urged the U.N. to "ensure free and fair elections in America."
"As lawmakers, we must assure the people of America that our nation will not experience the nightmare of the 2000 presidential election," Johnson said in the letter. "This is the first step in making sure that history does not repeat itself."
Meanwhile, Rep. Corrine Brown, a Florida Democrat, announced that the Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has confirmed that it will be present in the United States – specifically, in Florida – on Election Day.
However, state election authorities in Florida have already announced that such observers are not to be allowed access to the voting process and, in any case, they would have to remain at a distance of more than 50 feet from the polls.
Besides Johnson, the congressional signers to the original U.N. letters included Julia Carson of Indiana, Jerrold Nadler, Edolphus Towns, Joseph Crowley and Carolyn B. Maloney, all of New York, Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Corrine Brown of Florida, Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, Danny K. Davis of Illinois, and Michael M. Honda and Barbara Lee of California.
Good assessment. Sometimes you make me think we're related. And that is a good thing ; )
MADNESS! GRRRRRrrrrr.....
Could be a politically smart move if the UN people ain't in cahoots with the Dems. Given the nature of what was found out after going into Iraq, I wouldn't trust the UN any more than I'd trust the honor of a handcuffed female to a male rapist. Ok, this really ain't about Bill Clinton; but,...
I'm surprised the Dims would want anyone to observe their elections. Last election it was a Dim congressman in Florida who was caught with a mobile voting machine in the trunk of his car. It was Dims in Arkansas that bussed blacks from churches on Sunday to vote early. It was Dims in Missouri who kept the polls open late so they could round up more voters.
Bush just lost my vote.....
When all else fails, go back to the original plans.
Monitor: "A person who advices, warns, or cautions."
Observe: 'To adhere to, follow, keep or abide by (a law, custom, duty, rule, etc."
Observer: "A person who attends an assembly, convention, etc., not as an official delegate but only to observe and report the proceedings. An official, usually a member of a group, sent by a UN committee to collect and report facts on the situation in a special area."
It seems we have a contradiction here. A monitor is one who gets actively involved, while an observer just stands back and watchs and keeps his/her mouth shut. Than later reports what they saw.
The article's headline reads "Bush invites foreigners to monitor U.S. election"
Give me a freaking break. This idea is not an ‘end around’ it is a horrible precedent that opens us up to interference by people that do not appreciate the things that this country stands for. This election, monitoring; next election, who knows what. We as conservatives have never been able to recognize incrementalism except by hindsight. Well, here it is, staring us in the face, and you people are as blind as the conservatives in the past.
Non citizens should not be allowed any where close to the polls on our election day, much less ‘observing’, ‘monitoring’ or whatever. You people who are blind subjects of the infallible Republican Party are going to compromise and compromise until you turn around one day and realize that you have betrayed everything that you once held dear. When one person says the sky is blue and one person says the sky is yellow the answer isn’t somewhere in the middle. It’s blue. And wrong is wrong no matter what letter comes after the name of the person spouting it.
Also reported on CNN this morning:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1187896/posts
This is a disgrace.
OSCE is a far cry from the UN. We have a multilateral agreement with OSCE to observe elections. If we want to observe elections in Europe, and we do, it is only fair that we allow European nations to observe ours.
The nations involved are all European democracies, and they can only observe. What we really want to avoid is a lot of tin-pot dictators running around all over the place telling us how to run things.
Thank you. Better late than never.
I read the entire article and I don't understand you comment? Why is this Bush's fault?
187 Dem Reps make a request and a low level state department guy says it's been sent forward? How exactly do you think our system works? You will vote for who based on this?
A postal worker was rude to me the other day. It never crossed my mind that it was Bush's fault.
Please explain you point on this issue.
PS to all you who approve of this - if you think having international people here is going to ensure the Dems dont' cheat, well you are smoking a big huge crack rock.
I can take to task any president who allows this. If Clinton was stupid enough to sign it, then Bush should be smart enough to (unsign it) abolish it.
The blind loyalist get my vote. Nothing could be more dangerous than that.
Nice try.
1. George Bush is President of the US. We are an independent Nation, or were.
2. Mike Peroutka
"It is a great strategic move. It takes away a Democrat position from them and effectively nullifies any complaints that can be raised by them (again). Tell me you dont see that!!!!"
It gives legitimacy to the idea that the United States is not a soverieign nation. It gives the impression that U.S. is subject to the rules of other nations. What is the point, unless it is to allow other nations to have an official voice in our elections.
Only a blithering idiot would think these people are here to "help" us.
I am so sick of these anti-American moves done in the name of "strategery"....amnesty...chastising and reassigning border guards who do their jobs....campaign finance reform.
A few more of these brilliant strategies and we might as well flush the Constitution.
I am so sick of this crap. I am sure Reagan is spinning in his grave because of this idiocy.
Bad precedent. But I guess it's part of the "New Tone."
I am so sick of these people.
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